


Babysitting Katie

by lizandletdie



Series: The Adoption!verse [16]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Parent/Child relationship - Freeform, Sibling Relationship, adoption!verse, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-25
Updated: 2014-09-25
Packaged: 2018-02-18 19:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2359373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizandletdie/pseuds/lizandletdie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the future of A Mother and a Father, Bae is left to babysit his little sister.  Belle does not approve of his methods.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Babysitting Katie

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said:  
> Adoption!Verse: Bae babysits. Chaos ensues.
> 
> I thought I might start posting some stories set in the future of that particular story, since a lot of y'all are going kind of insane from the slow burn. So here, have some reassurance that it ends happily.
> 
> I hate that I have to do this, but apparently I do. If you're reading this fic anywhere besides AO3, it was posted without my consent and likely profited someone else. Please consider [donating](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=CZNGXGNP4PRX4&lc=US&item_name=The%20Mantis%20Fund&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donate_SM%2egif%3aNonHosted) or swinging by my Tumblr (standbyyourmantis) to let me know what you thought!

Bae didn't bother to look up from his phone when he heard his parents walk through the door. He was sprawled out on the sofa in the family room, Katie was upstairs with her new Disney Princess coloring book and his alibi was completely bullet proof.

“Bae?” his mother called out from the foyer. “Where are you?”

“In here!” he yelled back. She probably just wanted to make sure everything had gone well while he'd been in charge. She always liked to check on that.

“How did everything go?” she said from the doorway, and he glanced up to respond. His father hovered behind her and that was Bae's first hint that something was going on.

“Pretty good,” he replied. “We had grilled cheese for lunch and she's upstairs playing now.”

“Did you go anywhere?” his mom's voice was perfectly calm – too calm. Oh shit, she knew.

“Yeah,” he said quickly. “I wanted to pick up that new game with the money you gave me for watching her, so we made a day of it. I got her a coloring book for being good while we were there.”

This was a dangerous game. His mother didn't really like him taking Katie out when he was babysitting, but it wasn’t strictly forbidden because there was no reason to ban it. They were just as easily reached when they were out as when they were at home, and any trouble he was going to get up to at the mall with his little sister wasn't going to be stopped by the knowledge that his parents weren't out in town together.

“That sure was generous of you,” she still wasn't smiling and his father was looking back and forth between them nervously. She knew something she wasn't letting on, and he was going to have to feign ignorance if he wanted to skate on this.

“Well, you know,” he said with a smile. “I _am_ the best brother in the world.”

“Yeah,” she said dismissively as she walked into the room. “Hey so I had a real interesting conversation with Emma's mom.”

_Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit._

“Oh yeah? What'd Mrs. Nolan have to say?”

“Well, apparently she and Emma were out looking for homecoming dresses and they saw Katie telling a group of girls that she was lost and needed help.”

“Oh. Oh yeah! No, she wandered off at one point but it was only for like, five minutes. I found her right after.”

“Yeah, that's what Mrs. Nolan said. Actually, she said you were hiding behind the escalator and came around before she could go up and say she knew who Katie was and started thanking the girls for finding her.”

“I told you, I found her. It was no big deal!”

“Bae,” she sounded pissed. He was so dead. “I'm going to ask you this one time and I want the truth: did you have your sister run up to strangers at the mall so you could try to pick up girls?”

He glanced over to his father to see whose side he was on. His dad usually let his mom handle yelling at him (they'd only met about six years ago, so discipline was still a little weird between them) but just because Mom was angry didn't mean Dad was, too. He may be able to wrangle an ally out of this. Dad had a proud little smirk on his face but was trying really hard not to smile at him, which was a good sign.

“Oh come on, Mom,” Bae pleaded, setting his phone down. “What's the big deal?”

“What's the big deal?!” She was properly angry now. “Bae, you cannot teach your sister to talk to strangers. I don't care if they're girls from your school, she doesn't know them! What if she really got lost? What if someone snatched her while you weren't looking?”

“She was fine!” he insisted. “It was just Wendy Darling and Morraine and some other girls. They're not really strangers!”

“It's the principle of the thing,” she insisted, turning to his father. “Arthur, don't you have anything to say about _your son's_ behavior?”

He knew he was in trouble when they started _your sonning_ each other. His mom didn't really have much of a leg to stand on at that point, because she'd been the one to raise him, but it didn't stop her from occasionally arguing the finer points of nature vs. nurture with them – and he knew his dad wasn't about to argue his case to her. He might be willing to talk her out of whatever punishment she ended up on later that night if Bae begged him right though.

“Uhh...” his dad looked between them again before going over and kissing her on the cheek. “I'm fairly sure that when he's in trouble, he's _your_ son my dear.”

She glared at him for a moment and he sighed.

“Bae, you shouldn't use your sister like that,” he said resignedly.

“She likes doing it!” Bae insisted. “She got a coloring book and everything!”

“Regardless, you should listen to your mother,” he gave her another peck on the cheek. “Anyway, I'm going to go upstairs and check on Katie since she's been awfully quiet. Let me know what you decide, sweetheart. Good luck, Bae.”

He beat a hasty retreat from there, and Bae heard his feet on the stairs before his mother finally let her shoulders sag and came to sit with him.

“Look, Bae,” she said finally. “I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but there's a lot that could go wrong when you do things like that. At least don't trick the girls into talking to her.”

Well, this was getting weird.

“If you're going to insist on using your sister to talk to girls,” she continued. “At least be up front about it! Have her tell them they're pretty or something. Or have her ask if they're princesses. Don't send her off alone.”

“So...I'm not in trouble?” he asked.

“Oh no, you're in trouble,” she replied. “You're staying home this weekend and cleaning the garage. But you're her favorite babysitter and I don't want you guys to stop doing things together. So if this is what you're going to do, we're going to set some ground rules for it.”

“Oh...okay.”

Bae wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed or what was going on, but he made a mental note to ask Emma what exactly her mom had told his because this was definitely not where he saw this conversation going.

 


End file.
